Thomas Sterling

Thomas Sterling (21 February 1851-26 August 1930) was a US Senator from South Dakota (R) from 4 March 1913 to 4 March 1925, succeeding Robert J. Gamble and preceding William H. McMaster.

Biography
Thomas Sterling was born in Amanda, Ohio in 1851, and his family moved to McLean County, Illinois in 1854. He served as the superintendent of schools of Bement from 1875 to 1877, and his brother John A. Sterling became a congressman from Illinois. In 1878, Sterling became a lawyer in Springfield, serving as the city's prosecuting attorney from 1880 to 1881. In 1882, he moved to the Dakota Territory and opened a law practice in Redfield in 1886. From 1886 to 1888, he served as Sprink County district attorney, and he became a member of the state constitutional convention in 1889 and a member of the State Senate in 1890. From 1901 to 1911, he served as the first dean of the University of South Dakota College of Law at Vermillion. From 1913 to 1925, Sterling served in the US Senate, and he investigated seditious German and Bolshevik activities during World War I. He was not renominated in 1924, and he died in 1930.